Two years ago I mentored an author for PitchWars — an online writing contest where authors looking for agents (and publishing deals) get to work with mentors to shine and polish their manuscripts. I’ve always loved books with magical realism, particularly ones that also include food (think Sarah Addison Allen), and was tickled when I came across Susan Bishop Crispell’s manuscript. It’s a story where secrets are baked into pies, wishes that float on tiny pieces of paper come true, and it’s full of all the things I love in a great magical realism story.

I worked with Susan on that manuscript (well, she worked — HARD), and while it wasn’t a direct line from PitchWars to book sale, I’m thrilled that Susan’s debut, THE SECRET INGREDIENT OF WISHES, just hit shelves this past Tuesday.

So to celebrate I’m giving away a signed hardcover copy of Susan’s book, along with this lovely (and book cover matching!) apron from Anthropologie that I wish I could keep for myself. For readers who also love to cook or bake, or who like to look stylish while pretending to chef it up in the kitchen, this is the giveaway for you!

I’ll choose a lucky winner next Saturday, September 17th, via random draw (open to U.S. and Canada). Please visit Susan’s website and give her a little love on Facebook and Twitter if you’re so inclined. And good luck, everyone!

If you want to know more about the book, here’s the synopsis:

26-year-old Rachel Monroe has spent her whole life trying to keep a very unusual secret: she can make wishes come true. And sometimes the consequences are disastrous. So when Rachel accidentally grants an outlandish wish for the first time in years, she decides it’s time to leave her hometown―and her past―behind for good.

Rachel isn’t on the road long before she runs out of gas in a town that’s not on her map: Nowhere, North Carolina―also known as the town of “Lost and Found.” In Nowhere, Rachel is taken in by a spit-fire old woman, Catch, who possesses a strange gift of her own: she can bind secrets by baking them into pies. Rachel also meets Catch’s neighbor, Ashe, a Southern gentleman with a complicated past, who makes her want to believe in happily-ever-after for the first time in her life.

As she settles into the small town, Rachel hopes her own secrets will stay hidden, but wishes start piling up everywhere Rachel goes. When the consequences threaten to ruin everything she’s begun to build in Nowhere, Rachel must come to terms with who she is and what she can do, or risk losing the people she’s starting to love―and her chance at happiness―all over again.